Machine for mounting rhinestones on fabric



July 12, 1960 A. EFFGEN 2,944,260

MACHINE FOR MOUNTING RHINESTONES ON FABRIC Filed Feb. 26, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 3 July 12, 19 A. EFFGEN 2,944,260

MACHINE FOR MOUNTING RHINESTONES ON FABRIC Filed Feb. 2$, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 M6 M8 M9 l l l l I 1 M The settings 56 are of thin metal stock and consist essentially of a disk 58 from the rim of which at least three spaced prongs 60 project perpendicularly, four such prongs being the customary number. The settings it slide down the rail in inverted position, straddling the rail with two prongs on either side. For reliable operation of the machine, the series of settings must slide down the rail 52 freely but without overlapping one another. For this purpose, the bottom of each setting is swaged to offset the central portion upward as indicated in Figure 25. This increases the virtual thickness of the bottom as a whole and also results in an accurate uniformity of such thickners. In making the settings it is preferred to shape the blanks with notches 62 at the base of each prong 66 so that the prongs can be bent up to their perpendicular position with less chance for distortion of adjacent portions of the bottom or disk 58 of the setting.

The lower end of the guide rail 52 is adjacent to the operating station. Beneath the lower end portion of the rail and pivoted thereto is a carrier arm 66, the lower end of which extends out beyond the lower end of the rail to receive a setting therefrom so as to support it at the operating station in the manner illustrated more fully in Patent No. 2,489,764, the arm 66 being yieldingly supported in its normally raised position by a spring 67. The leading setting on the rail 52 is cammed to the projecting portion of the carrier arm 66 by an Lshaped arm 63 which is pivoted at its upper end as at 76, the lower portion of the arm being arranged to extend across the lower end portion of the rail 52 just'below the end of the cover 56. The arm 68 is swung to the advanced position shown in Figure 18 by descending movement of a lug 72 mounted on the lever 42, and is retracted to the position shown in Figure 21 by a suitable spring 74. A diagonal channel 76 in the under face of the arm 68 forms a dividing wedge 78 on the arm to come between the leading setting and the one next to it. Owing to the thinness of the stock of which the settings are made, the Wedge '73 is not relied on to separate contiguous settings, the initial separation being brought about by gravity. To this end a light leaf spring 80 is mounted on the cover 56, the spring having a small finger 82 extending down therefrom through a notch in the cover 56 to bear frictionally on the setting which is next to the leading setting. When the arm 68 is retracted by the spring 74, the leading setting slides by gravity to engage the lower wall 84 of the channel 76 as soon as it is cleared by the wedge 78. The rest of the settings on the rail 52 are detailed by the finger 82 of the spring 80. The latter extends over and in contact with the lower portion of the arm 68. When the arm is swung to its advance position (Figures 18 and 20) the end portion of the spring 80 rides up on a thickened portion 86 of the arm 68 lifting the finger 82 and releasing the series of settings on the rail 52 to descend until stopped by the engagement of the now leading setting with the wedge 78.

4 This aperture or port 98 prevents the passage from the hopper of stones which are not properly oriented.

To deposit rhinestones on the rail 92, a loading blade 106 projects up into the hopper for vertical reciprocation. The blade is operatively connected to the stud 54 by an arm 162 which is pivoted at 104 and rocked by movements of the stud, and a link 106 which extends from the lower end of the blade 100 and is pivotally connected to the arm 102. As rhinestones are fragile, the contour of the upper end of the blade 100 is important to avoid crushing the stones when the blade is operated.

The blade preferably has. a rectangular horizontal cross-section, and hastwo relatively broad faces and two relatively narrow faces. One of the broad faces 108 slides on a side face of the portion of the rail 92 which is within the hopper 90. The high point 110 of the top of the blade 100 is at the corner adjacent to the port 98 where the rail extends through the wall 93. The top of the blade has a sloping face 112 facing the rail 92, this face being somewhat concaved so that it tapers in width from an intermediate portion thereof to the point 110 (Figure 8) at one end and to a lower point 114 at the other end.

The face 112 is bounded on its lower side by its dog-leg intersection 116 with a broad side face of the blade and on its upper side by a dog-leg ridge crest 118. A smaller triangular face 120 (Figures 2 and 3) at the top of the blade slopes downward from the high point 110, and a more steeply sloping face 122 completes the top surface of the blade.

When the machine, is in operation, the blade 100- reciprocates vertically between a low position in which the high'point 110 is below the port'98, and a high position in which the point 110 is well above the level of the port 98. A bafile 124 in the hopper prevents the stones from piling up too deeply over the top of the blade. As the blade rises from its low position, the point 110 and ridge crest 118 plow up through the overlying stones; pushing a few of them toward the rail face 94 and defleeting the rest of them away from the rail. If when the blade starts to rise a stone is blocking the port 98 because it is wrongly oriented the portion of the face 112 adjacent to the point 110 will cam the stone away from the port so that another can take its place. Most of the stones in that part of the hopper will be shunted away from the rail, the relatively few which are lifted by the face 112 being deflected onto the face 94 of the rail. -When the blade 100 descends, the stones on the face 94 are left without support from the blade. The stones which are properly oriented on the rail will stay there and will slide toward the port. The others will fall off.

The inclined rail 92 guides the stones thereon to a V raceway 139 which. inverts the stones and guides them A supply of rhinestones may be heaped in a hopper 9i attached to a side of the bin 12 or otherwise conveniently supported in an elevated position. An inclined guide rail 92 is against one inner wall face of the hopper and pro- 'jects out and down through an adjacent wall 93 of the hopper. The upper edge surface 94 of the rail is transversely inclined at an angle of or so and is wide enough to accommodate a single rhinestone; Along the lower side of the face 94 is a narrow flange 96 which is sufficient to retain a rhinestone on the face 94 when the bottom of the stone is against the face but will not retain a stone the top of which is against the face 94. The stone shown in Figure 5 is in an unstable position and is about to slip over the flange 96. As indicated in Figure 6, an aperture 98 is made through the wall of the hopper immediately above the rail 92, this aperture being shaped to permit passage therethrough of a stone sliding with its bottom surface on the face 94, but nototherwise.

to the operating station where they are to be aflixed to a fabric; As shown, the raceway extends steeply downward'and then slopes to the operating station, the stones sliding face downward on the latter portion. The raceway consists of a bar having a longitudinal channel 132 wide enough and deep enough to accommodate a succession of stones under a cover 133 thereon. This cover is preferably of transparent plastic material so that the stones in the channel can be easily inspected. When a broken stone or fragment is noticed in the raceway, it can be removed through a gateway 134 in the side of the raceway provided for that purpose. The gateway is normally'closed by a block 136 which is held in place by a headed screw 138. When the screw is loosened and the block allowed to drop to the position shown in Figures 10 and 11, the gateway 134 is for the removal, of stones or fragments thereof from the raceway. To reduce the chances of the stones being retarded or stopped by accumulations of dust, lint or the like in the channel 132, narrow grooves 140 extend downward at the margins of the channel, defining a central rail 142 on which the top face of each stone bears. For the escape of dust etc from the grooves .140, any desired dumb 13$ "mte l l' are ZC lt through the side walls ofthe racewavtesep ime the grooves at a level not higher than the bottom ofuhs channel, two such notches be ng dicated i iFigure 2. j

A its lower end, the raceway :lfiQ -termi gte t a s sta -ion a e the (an in rase av a smal lock 148 which is set iatorthe' sk 126, {In one edge face of the block 148 is a groove in which is slidably fitted a ro'dEISWhaving a2nnse 152 normally projecting beyond the adjacent side of .the block .intothe of the leading stone' of the in thelraceway 130. The nose T52 acts as ayil'ding detent'for the leading stone,.the rod 150 being pressed at its other end by a light spring 154. A push-rod 156 is provided to push the leading stone from the position shown in Figure 16 to the operating station over the anvil. Thepush-rod 156 is mounted on a slide 158 which runs in ways in the block 26. A spring'160 in the block 26 presses the slide 158 away from the operating station. A turn-button -162 on a rocking member 164 operates .to push the slide 158 and the push-rod 156 forward to move a stone to the operating station. To keep the stone from jumping out of place when it is propelled by the push rod, a light leaf spring 166 is mounted over the rod-and projects beyond the end thereof far enough to extend over the anvil when the push-rod is projected forward to move the leading setting to the operating station. The rocking member 164 is pivoted at 170 to a frame member 172 extending down from the base 10. A stud 174 on the member 164 rides on a cam 176, which is a part-of the cam member 44, when the latter is advanced (to the left as in Figure 14) by the stud 48.

The operation of the machine is as follows. When the moving parts are in the positions shown in Figure 1, the machine is ready to receive a strip or sheet of fabric (not shown) which may be held so that the portion to which a stone is to be affixed is in the operating position, that is, in the space between the aligned plunger 22 and anvil 24. At this time the plunger 22 is up, the anvil 24 is down, the picker arm 68 is in the retracted position shown in Figure 21, the cam member 44 is in its advanced position, the pusher-rod 156 is i in its advanced position, having pushed a stone forward into alignment between the plunger 22 and theanvil 124,'and the loading blades in the bin 12 and the hopper 90 are down.

When the fabric is in place at the operating station,

the treadle is kicked to swing the lever 30to the rear. This causes the picker arm 68 to swing to the advanced position shown in Figure 18, thus moving the leading set ting into line between the plunger 22 and the anvil 24 at a point above the stone which has previously been pushed into place and the fabric which is held at the operating station, the cam member is retracted, causing the anvil to rise with an inverted stone thereon, the spring 166 is retracted from the operating station, the loading blades rise, and the plunger 22 descends to drive the prongs of the setting on the carrier arm 66 through the fabric to be clinched by the anvil about the margin of the stone resting on the anvil. The swing of the picker arm 68 to its advanced position camsthe spring 80 upward so that the finger 82 is lifted clear of the settings which thereupon advanced a distance equal to the diameter of a setting, the leading setting coming against a side of the wedge 78.

When the lever 30 returns to the position shown in Figure 1, the rock-arm 42 is rocked thereby to elevate the plunger 22 and lower the loading blades in the bin and hopper. The picker arm 68 swings back to the retracted position shown in Figure 21, allowing the spring finger 82 to engage the second setting in the series while. the leading setting is clearedby the wedge 78 to slide down into the channel 76 ready to be discharged onto the carrier arm 66. The cam member 44 is moved aa aastaee ies s as aa bheads ashe rnamsnt as e smsnts. the-fabr c s hel it t i on Y s 1 a dia stsns e fed to the operating station. 'ilTheiomission-oftthe stones can be readily had by turning the tum-button 162 to the position'sshownzfin brokenalines in LEigure When the turn-button isdnthat;position,-;the;pushen rpd remains in its retracted position and no stone 'is pushe gl pa st the tietent 'nosel5 2.

I claim:

1. In a machine for affixing rhinestones to a fabric, a hopper for a supply of rhinestones, an inclined feed rail extending through a side of said hopper, said rail having a transversely inclined top face wider than the diameter of a rhinestone and a narrow flange along the lower edge of said top-face, a vertically reciprocal blade having its upper portion Within said hopper and face to face against the flanged side of said rail, said blade having a top portion with a face inclined toward said rail, said inclined face of said blade being concave and tapering in width in both directions from an intermediate portion of maximum width, and means for reciprocating said blade from and to a low position in which its topis below the level of said top face.

2. A loading blade adapted for vertical reciprocation in a 7 minima at said corners.

3. A loading blade as in claim 2, the highest point of said top being at one of said front corners.

4. In a machine for afiixing rhinestones to fabrics, said machine including a frame, an anvil carried by said frame, and a raceway for rhinestones teiminating at a point adjacent to said anvil; a fixed block adjacent to said anvil and the end of said raceway, a reciprocable pusher-rod extending toward said anvilbetween said block and the end of said raceway, a spring-pressed detent element carried by said block-in a position to stop the leading rhinestone of a series of stones guided by said raceway in a position between the end of said pusher-rod and said anvil, and means carried by said frame for reciprocating said pusher-rod to push the leading rhinestone from its position 5. In a machine for aflixing rhinestones to fabric, said."

machine including a frame, an anvil carried by said frame, and a raceway for rhinestones terminating at a point adacent to said anvil; a fixed block adjacent to said anvil 'and the end of said raceway, a reciprocable pusher-rod frame for reciprocating said pusher-rod to push the leading V rhinestone from its position against said detent element to 7 stones, a picket member reciprocable between advanced "and retracted positions across the delivery end portion of said raceway, said member having a stop portion engageable by the leading setting in the raceway when the member is in its advanced position, said stop portion being out of the path of said leading setting when the member is in its retracted position, said member having a secondary stop portion in the path of said leading setting when the member is retracted, and a spring pressed finger bearing frictionally on the setting next to the leading setting when the member is in its advanced position, said member having a cam portion lifting said finger when the member moves to its retracted position.

679,868 Southcot Aug. 6, 1901 8 Sadler Sept. 4, Goddu" Jan. 12, Brackett Oct. 31, Jerram n. June 4, Perri June l Farnhani Apr. 30, Seely Sept. 29, Montague May 8, McIlvin Jan. 28,

FOREIGN PATENTS France Jan. 14, France Jan. 14, 

